International development pitfalls and successes: Five case studies from Tanzania

G Gunther and M A Memon

Abstract

International development work is
designed to alleviate poverty and to improve the quality of life in poverty
stricken countries. Development projects range from direct
government-to-government loans to small grass roots organizations. Most
have a common goal of improving and stabilizing the economy, either locally or
country wide, in developing nations.

Veterinarians can play
a critical role in developing countries. Developing nations are primarily
agricultural and livestock plays a key role in the economy and often in the
culture. Important livestock issues include trans-boundary diseases,
management, nutrition, genetics and marketing. Veterinarians are also
important for public health education concerning food safety and zoonotic
diseases.

Five case studies from
US Peace Corps volunteers development aid projects in the Iringa region in
Tanzania were re-examined between 3 and 5 years after donor support concluded.
The lessons learned included the importance of strong project leadership,
appropriate technologies and information, and careful project design.
Development projects in developing countries face many challenges such as
corruption, reliance on donor funding, and unforeseeable problems such as
weather. Nevertheless, most projects have positive impacts including
education about management practices and the introduction of superior
phenotypes.

Introduction

We live in a technologically advanced, global economy, and yet there are
millions of people living on incomes of less than 1 US dollar a day.
Millions of people across the globe struggle with devastating poverty,
malnutrition and minimal access to health care. As the world’s population
continues to grow, the food resources available to people living on less than 1
dollar a day continue to diminish. Among areas of the world struggling to
maintain a working environment for its peoples, Africa stands out. Africa
is being torn apart by civil unrest and political turmoil, environmental changes
leading to droughts and starvation, and disease epidemics are ravaging the
populations. African nations have enormous potential to supply the world with
raw materials and manufactured goods. However, instability in African nations
can be a source of global disease epidemics, as well as destabilization of a
stable world economy and global politics.

The majority of people living in Africa are small-holder or subsistence farmers.
They manage small plots of land designed to generate enough crops to feed
themselves with very little excess for cash profit. It makes sense that
many poverty-alleviation projects target farmers. Production of a cash
crop beyond the production of food for consumption can have a significant impact
on small-holder farmers. Livestock play a key role in African society and
economy.

Veterinary care

Veterinarians are key players in the global fight to alleviate poverty and
reduce disease prevalence via livestock production. Small-holder farmers
raise livestock such as chickens, goats, sheep or cows. This represents a
huge potential for profit production. Veterinarians can help improve
livestock management to maximize production, reduce infectious diseases, and
provide public health education. Veterinarians also have a key role in
collaboration with health workers to prevent zoonotic diseases such as
tuberculosis, Rift Valley Fever and rabies which continue to be a concern in
SubSaharan Africa.

Trans-boundary diseases such as Foot and Mouth disease, Newcastle disease, and
rinderpest have huge economic impacts on countries. Many trans-boundary
diseases are endemic in Tanzania and the threat of spread of trans-boundary
diseases such as FMD or Newcastle disease to countries that are naÔve, such as
Europe, has a detrimental effect on Tanzanian livestock export.
Veterinarians are vital in identifying outbreaks and preventing the spread of
these diseases.

The need for veterinary assistance and the benefit of livestock programs will be
explored in five examples of projects from the Iringa Region in Tanzania.

Animal-agriculture in Tanzania

Tanzania is located on the coast of eastern
Sub-Saharan Africa and has a population of 40.4 million people. It is one
of the world’s poorest countries. The 2004 United Nations
Development Program Human Development Index ranked Tanzania 162 out of 175
countries. The World Bank estimates Tanzania's 2004 per capita income at $280
per year (less than $1 per day) (USAID 2004). In many ways Tanzania is
typical of socioeconomic and agricultural problems Africa faces. Most
Tanzanians are subsistence farmers, meaning that they basically grow their own
food supplies, despite the fact that only 4.2% of Tanzania is considered to be
arable. The average life expectancy in Tanzania is about 51 years (World
Fact Book 2008).

Agriculture is the most important economy in Tanzania and represents 40% of its
gross domestic product and employs 80% of its workforce. Live animals and
hides made-up most of the livestock related international exports. Most of
the Tanzanian livestock is held by small holder farmers, with only 1% of
livestock production occurring on commercial ranches. Livestock are not
only responsible for food production, but are also used as draft power for
cultivation, and as an alternate form of earnings savings
(US Dept of State 2009).

Trans-boundary and zoonotic diseases

Trans-boundary diseases, the epidemic diseases which cause high morbidity and
mortality in susceptible animal populations, are a global threat. They
affect food security both due to loss of the animals themselves and the draft
animal power used for cultivating land. These diseases severely
impact the regional economy and make it very difficult to import genetics to
improve production. Finally, some of these diseases are zoonotic and may
cause morbidity and mortality among farmers (FAO 2008a). Tanzania is
particularly susceptible to diseases such as Rift Valley fever, Newcastle
disease, and Trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness). Rift Valley
fever is a mosquito vectored disease which causes hemorrhage and fever in both
people and cattle. In 2007, Rift Valley fever resulted in a 14%
decrease in livestock population and in at least 126 human deaths (Economic
survey 2007)

Newcastle disease is another globally important trans-boundary disease that also
causes significant economic losses in endemic countries. The Newcastle
virus may cause up to 100% mortality in naÔve flocks. The virus is endemic
in Tanzania and commonly destroys up to 90% of chicken flocks in rural areas.
Other important trans-boundary diseases include Trypanosomiasis (African
sleeping sickness) and Foot and Mouth disease.

Several factors contribute to the high risk of disease in Tanzania. These
include the humid and tropical climate, the agro-pastoralist method of raising,
methods of livestock transport which often involve driving cattle over long, a
lack of veterinary resources to diagnose, isolate, and to treat livestock
diseases, a lack of wide-spread prevention programs including vaccination and
testing, and a reluctance of farmers to report illnesses. While there are
mandatory vaccination programs, participation is often minimal.

What is aid?

There are many different sorts of ‘aid’ ranging from large scale loans
government to government, to grass-roots projects run by fundraising, to
projects run by religious institutions. Tanzania has a number of large
scale aid organizations, such as United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) which funds large scale projects that target infrastructure
and other issues, and which also has grants available for smaller
non-governmental organizations (NGOs). There are also official volunteer
programs such as the United States (US) Peace Corps in which volunteers act as
both cultural ambassadors and development workers. In addition, Tanzania
has numerous NGOs, most of which are run by non-Tanzanians and which tend to
have a more grass-roots approach than governmental organizations. Finally,
the Tanzanian government has many extension programs and is deeply committed to
developing different sectors. Projects vary in duration from a few months
to more than 20 years. Similarly, project scale varies from five farmers
to country wide implementation.

Development work is often collaborative with the Tanzanian extension and
education programs. Nevertheless, Tanzania is a patchwork quilt of
development projects, most operating in limited areas teaching diverse
technologies and methods. In some ways, this may be viewed as a natural
testing ground for these different technologies; however, it is difficult to
effect country-wide change if there is no consistency between projects.

Negative aspects of aid

The biggest criticisms of aid programs is that they are designed to be
temporary, sort of a ‘hand-up’ and are supposed to be self-limiting.
Instead, aid and development work has become a thriving industry. Most
countries that have received aid continue to have weak economies and have a
majority of people living in poverty. Development work has been criticized
for creating a culture of dependence on donor funding. Critics claim that
poor nations do not invest in the infrastructure for health and public sector
development because they rely heavily on development projects to fulfill these
needs. Sustainability is a key issue in development work and a dependence
on donor funding is detrimental to sustainability. The negative impact on
donations of money and goods is a recurring theme that will be explored in the
five case studies from the Iringa region of Tanzania.

Positive aspects of aid work

Tanzania is one of the countries that has received the most monetary aid since
gaining independence compared to other developing countries. It has been
held up as an obvious example of a failure of international assistance since it
is now poorer in terms of the global economy than it was in 1960. However,
it has also become “…a relatively successful social development in terms of
health, education, and equality” (Catterson and
Lindahl1999)

Case studies: specific examples

The US Peace Corps volunteers in Tanzania implement a wide variety of projects,
including projects that target livestock development. During 2002 to 2004
many projects were implemented in the Imalinyi village, which is located in the
Iringa region of the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. These programs ranged
from livestock improvement programs to HIV/AIDS education and women’s small
business development. These projects were briefly reassessed in the summer
of 2007. The successes and challenges of five projects will serve as an
example of how some development projects are designed, implemented and finally
sustained (or not) by the villagers.

These projects were chosen because they spanned most of the 2002-2004 time
period, all phases of the project were completed by 2004, there was a minimum
involvement of 35 villagers, and because these projects were available for
follow up in 2007. Projects not chosen include livestock projects which
were not completed by 2004 (including milk goat and honey bee projects) or were
begun prior to 2002 (dairy cow project), non-veterinary related projects
(including biogas digesters, HIV/AIDs education, health care education, Adobe
ovens, fuel efficient stoves, school construction), or projects involving fewer
than 35 villagers (womens small business development, small animal deworming
program).

The five highlighted projects pertain to livestock development: livestock health
and illness seminars, hybrid vigor chickens, Newcastle disease vaccinations, pig
farming, and tilapia ponds. A number of experts were involved during the
project development and implementation, including the local Imalinyi area
Livestock Officer, the Peace Corps Environment project director, Heifer Project
International (HPI), the village chairman and executive officer.

Livestock health and illness seminars

A series of monthly seminars were presented by the Peace Corps volunteer and the
Livestock Officer of the Imalinyi region. The volunteer researched the
disease topics, wrote the pamphlets, and translated them into Kiswahili, and
then printed and assembled the pamphlets. The seminars were open to the
whole village and were announced the night before the seminar via village wide
drumming. An average turnout was 25 to 35 villagers. Pamphlets were
available both at the seminar, at the village office, and were placed in the
village library. The seminars included detailed descriptions of diseases
capable of causing epidemics including Rift Valley fever and Foot and Mouth
disease. More information about HOW the topics were presented would be useful.

Most livestock in Tanzania is grazed communally during the day on community
land, in the pastoralist method of management. The job of herding
livestock falls to young boys usually between the ages of 6 to 14years.
This allows a division of labor within the family and frees older family members
who are physically stronger to tend their crops, including cash crops which are
used to purchase more cattle. Unfortunately, while these children are
herding cattle they are not in school and this contributes to the national
literacy problem. These children are usually barefoot leading to further
complications including parasitic infections such as cutaneous and visceral
larval migrans.

More intensive livestock production is being introduced by a variety of NGOs,
including HPI which provides villagers with dairy cows. However, since
there is no hay production nor is there any other production of fodder, owners
of these animals need to plant appropriate grasses, such as elephant grass, and
need to harvest this grass daily. While these cows produce significantly
more milk, a larger initial investment in a cow pen, including a water tank
(usually made from cement) and grass seeds, are needed. Furthermore, these
cows are susceptible to infectious diseases and malnutrition, including
dehydration. In one study, the average number of mature cows per farm was
two cows with an average age of four years. The mean body condition score
was 2.2 out of five (indicating malnutrition). These factors most likely
contributed to the longer than normal average calving interval (420-680 days).
The longer calving interval as an important measure of productivity indicates
that productivity is sub-optimal on the average Tanzanian small-holder dairy
farm (Swai et al 2005a).

Due to the difficulty in obtaining and maintaining high milk producing dairy
cows, most farmers continue to rely on the native zebu cattle and continue to
maintain them on communally grazed land. This leads to several problems
including overgrazing, grazing in wilderness or protected areas, and top soil
erosion. Furthermore, most cattle are not treated for ectoparasites and
each cow commonly carries a heavy tick load. Common tick borne diseases
include East Coast fever, anaplasmosis and cowdriosis. In one study in
Northern Tanzania, 85% of cattle were infested with significant numbers of ticks
including Rhipicephalus, Amblyomma and Boophilus (Swai et al
2005b). Of the farms studied, most claimed to use tick control once
or twice a month. However, most also dilute the antiparasitc acaricides 3
to 4 fold, with a questionable benefit. Clearly, tick-borne diseases cause
significant production loss for farmers. Current tick control methods are
either not being used or used incorrectly, and there is a high risk of
developing tick resistance to acaricides by frequent dilution of the compounds.
The most commonly used acaracides are chlorfenvinphos and amitraz based (Swai et
al 2005b).

Seminar topics

There are several important topics that basic livestock seminars need to teach.
These include recognition and treatment of infectious and non-infectious
diseases, livestock nutrition and management, and parasite control.

The recognition of infectious
diseases is important because disease epidemics can be prevented by early
recognition. The Imalinyi seminars could have placed more stress on the
importance of reporting these diseases. Many farmers are reluctant to
report diseases, particularly FMD which does not usually lead to significant
mortality on a village level, because they are worried about destruction of
their animals without compensation. Stressing the importance of seeking
veterinary care and advice for all ill animals is important because it is
difficult for farmers to correctly diagnose and treat most diseases.
However, educating the farmer about the diseases including sign recognition and
general treatment is important because farmers are more willing to seek
appropriate veterinary care if they understand the risks to both the livestock
and to people.

The seminars did stress the
importance for the livestock officer to examine all seriously ill animals
because diseases may resemble each other. It was also stressed that
though it is possible to buy most veterinary medications at farm implement
stores it is better to have a trained professional prescribe the treatment.
However, there are several limitations. Most concerning is the
understaffing of the livestock sector. The Imalinyi livestock officer was
responsible for the livestock of approximately 15,000 households. He lived
in Njombe, an hour drive from the Imalinyi district, and made farm calls on a
motorcycle. It is impossible for one individual to make farm calls to all the
necessary areas. Secondly, corruption is a country-wide problem and often
the cost is transferred to small holder pastoralists making it impossible for
them to afford veterinary care. Teaching farmers how to recognize serious
illnesses and the basics of general treatment may help them to decide when to
call for veterinary assistance.

Non-infectious diseases and diseases that are not spread from animal to animal
often cause major production losses. One major barrier to improved
production is subclinical mastitis. Villagers treat mastitis when the cow
is obviously ill or the milk is grossly abnormal. Otherwise the cow is
assumed to be healthy and variations in milk production are attributed to luck
and weather. One study in the Iringa and Tanga regions (which includes the
Imalinyi district) estimated a 75.9% subclinical mastitis level when assessed
via the California mastitis test (CMT). The most common pathogen was
Staphylococcusaureus (Karimuribo et al 2006). One study
(Karimuribo et al 2008) showed that the main problem was illiteracy and lack of
knowledge about different types and treatment of mastitis. The study
findings indicated that farmers were unaware of subclinical mastitis and that
only 81% of acknowledged cases of mastitis cases were treated. The study
also assessed different methods of disseminating knowledge and the best results
were achieved with the ‘handout’ method. In fact combining the ‘handout’
with videos and village meetings did not increase the benefit over the ‘handout’
method alone. This study also indicated that although dairying is seen as
a profitable venture, and is indeed usually carried out by middle income
villagers, the benefit-cost analysis indicated that there was actually a poorer
return on investment when compared to pastoralist method of keeping livestock
and crop production (Karimuribo et al 2008). One conclusion was that
although return on investment was poor, the potential for increased revenue was
high. Educating farmers on methods of preventing mastitis, including
suckling calves and treatment of clinical mastitis with intramammary
antibiotics, is critical for economically viable dairy industry.

Mastitis is particularly important in Tanzania where there are almost no milk
quality safe-guards. Milk is not pasteurized and no somatic cell count is
performed, most milk is delivered daily and no particular sanitary
considerations are used for cleaning the milk delivery containers. The
recipient often but not always boils the milk. However, the recommended 10
minutes of rolling boil are never achieved and milk is considered by many to be
cooked and safe to drink if it boils briefly. Milk-borne zoonoses are
particularly important in a country whose HIV/AIDS infection rate reaches 25% in
some areas and in which children are often immunosuppressed due to malnutrition
or other diseases. Sadly, many consumers prefer raw milk for drinking and
for yogurt production and raw milk is often one of the ‘home remedies’ used by
HIV/AIDS victims. One study, by Mdegela et al (2004) assessed the risks of
milk-borne zoonosis in Tanzania as significant. In the area studied, the
incidence of bovine tuberculosis was 1.7% and brucellosis was 1.9%.
Atypical mycobacterium was also present. Again, this study indicated that
public awareness of the zoonotic potential of milk was very low indicating
another opportunity for education (Mdegela et al 2004).

In conclusion, the livestock management seminars were conducted appropriately in
small groups and with handouts. However, while major catastrophic diseases
were described, little time was dedicated to basic management aspects such as
mastitis, intensive production systems, and ecto- and endoparasite management.
A regular program with handouts would be most beneficial where more topics could
be covered. Some of the problems conducting seminars include producing of
pamphlets (using a non-native speaking Peace Corps volunteer with no formal
veterinary education is not ideal), funding for pamphlet production and funding
for the Livestock Officer to come and speak. Copies of the pamphlets were
placed in the village library; however, the library was rarely open (about once
a month) and not frequently used by villagers.

Developing the content of the pamphlets should occur with input by local
Livestock Officers as well as empirical evidence presented by papers with
Tanzanian data. The data presented by scientific papers assists in
identifying common problems and specific areas that need focus (e.g. subclinical
and clinical mastitis, correct application of acaracides).

Finally, care must be taken to present information is a clear and simple manner.
Clearly written and illustrated pamphlets serve as a method to reinforce and
disseminate the knowledge.

Hybrid chickens

One of the first projects requested by the Imalinyi village was a broiler
chicken and layer chicken project. Broiler chickens are raised
specifically for rapid growth and are designed for meat production.
Chickens are very popular in Tanzania, and there are 30 million chickens for
both meat and eggs (The Economic Survey 2007). Chickens are a small
investment, as they live a free range existence by scavenging all over the
village and returning to sleep in the hut at night (often under the bed of the
owner). These native Tanzanian chickens are tough and scrappy, able to
fight off village dogs and cats, able to fly quite long distances and to roost
in trees. They are also quite disease resistant (compared to imported
breeds). Despite these survival characteristics they lay approximately 11
eggs per laying cycle and have about 3 cycles per year (Mwalusanya et al 2002)
(much fewer than layers) and are quite adept at hiding these eggs in the bushes
until they hatch. Furthermore, on average these chickens weigh 1.3 – 1.9
kg (Mwalusanya et al 2002), much smaller than broilers which can reach twice
that weight. An ability to produce an increased number of eggs or larger
amounts of meat per chicken would considerably increase the profitability of
owning chickens.

However, having assessed the village chicken production (entirely free-range),
production of broilers and layers was deemed inappropriate and a cross-breeding
program was attempted instead to increase productivity while maintaining hybrid
vigor in respect to endemic diseases. This program was funded via a grant
from USAID. Forty-nine participants were chosen (seven per
sub-village) by the sub-village chairmen using criteria of middle income
families who already had significant chicken populations. These
participants attended a series of seminars concerning chicken production and
health. In order to qualify to receive a broiler rooster, participants
built a chicken enclosure according to project guidelines to prevent the broiler
chickens from being free-range. Participants then each received a broiler
rooster chick imported from an Iringa convent which specialized in pigs and
chickens with improved genetics.

Approximately 25% of the roosters were lost prior to onset of puberty due to a
variety of undiagnosed illnesses. This was not unusual since native
chickens have a 40% mortality rate prior to reaching the age of 10 weeks
(Mwalusanya et al 2002). However, the rest produced a large number
of offspring which were 75% heavier than the traditional village chicken and
were very popular in local cafes due to the increased size of the drumsticks.

Four years later the characteristic large white offspring could be seen in three
of the seven sub-villages; however the enclosed chicken hutches had been
abandoned because farmers did not want to incur the cost of feeding the
chickens. The Lugalo sub-village reported that the white offspring had
become quite popular and brought good prices, but that they were all stolen one
day. The larger size limits the ability to fly or maneuver quickly and
this made them easy targets for organized groups of thieves. Lugalo no
longer raises hybrid chickens.

In conclusion, this project showed some sustainability. Theoretically,
once villagers realized the benefit and profit available in larger chickens they
could invest in new genetics themselves and continue a semi-intensive production
system. The remaining genetics are becoming quickly diluted as there is no
real effort (with a few exceptions) to maintain the phenotype. The
successful sub-village, Lugalo, which had carefully maintained the phenotype did
not invest the money, time or energy to replace the lost chickens. When
the first author visited Lugalo in 2007, the villagers submitted a petition
to have the chickens replaced. They stated that they believed the project
to be beneficial; however, they did not show the initiative of replacing them at
their own cost.

Despite the fact that the project itself was not sustainable (defined as a
continuation of importing broiler or layer genetics to modify local village
chickens), there were several positive results. Three farmers maintained
enclosed spaces for the chickens and fed them kitchen and garden scraps.
The reasons given for continuing the enclosures included better ease of
collecting eggs, decreased loss of chickens to predators and thieves, ease of
catching chickens for sale or consumption, and to privately maintain some of the
broiler phenotype. Furthermore, the participants in this program have
continued to vaccinate their chickens for Newcastle disease and to administer
periodic anthelmentics. This indicates that while Imalinyi farmers were
not prepared for a semi-intensive poultry production system, increased education
and healthier practices were nevertheless adopted by some individuals.

Similar projects should stress that the continuation of the project beyond the
implementation period is the responsibility of the participants.
Participants should be involved in the selection and purchase of the desired
phenotype. Participants should be required to fund some portion of the
actual purchase cost of the broiler roosters. This may encourage better
sustainability. Other beneficial aspects could include development of a
specialty market to encourage maintenance of the phenotype and continued
importation of new genetics.

Newcastle vaccine program

Newcastle disease is the most economically important poultry disease in
Tanzania. Outbreaks can cause up to 100% mortality in chicken flocks.
Newcastle disease can also become endemic in areas and result in trading
restrictions with virus free regions of the world. Newcastle disease is
caused by a paramyxo virus and there are several effective vaccines. In
Tanzania in 2002 to 2004 the most popular vaccine was a thermostable stable
eye-drop vaccine.

Chickens are easily carried and are a common sight strapped to the back of a
bicycle and stuffed under a bus seat. Thus, chickens commonly travel
between villages and this is the main source of Newcastle disease spread.
The virus spreads mostly via respiratory secretions; however, fecal, oral and
fomite routes are also significant.

A goal of vaccinating all of the village chickens (about 30,000) every four
months was established in Imalinyi. Thermo-stable Newcastle vaccine was
purchased and a vaccination fee of 10 Tanzanian Shilling (TSh) per chicken was
established to cover the cost of the vaccine (which is equivalent to about
1/10 of a US penny per chicken). Approximately 75-80% of
Imalinyi chickens were vaccinated in a house-to-house vaccination program.
Vaccination dates were posted on the village and sub-village office doors and
the evening before vaccination, drummers announced the upcoming event.
Challenges included failure of farmers to keep their chickens locked up until
arrival of the vaccinators, inability to catch chickens running free, difficulty
in administering vaccine, and willingness of farmers to pay the TSh 10 per
chicken price. An unforeseen challenge was that with regular vaccination
clinical cases of Newcastle disease became rare and farmers believed that there
was no longer a threat and declined to vaccinate. This led to a later
resurgence of the disease.

In retrospect, more farmer education prior to initiating the vaccination program
would have been beneficial. Farmers need to understand the disease cycle,
how the virus can be transmitted, and that vaccination does not provide lifelong
protection. Also, it would have been beneficial to document the number of
Newcastle disease cases before and after initiation of the regular vaccinations
to empirically demonstrate the effectiveness of the vaccine. Furthermore,
a higher per chicken price might have been more sustainable as it would have
been a bigger incentive for individuals to treat vaccinating for Newcastle
disease as a business scheme. Nevertheless, although large village scale
vaccination projects in Imalinyi no longer occur, several farmer groups do
purchase the vaccine and distribute it amongst themselves. Several of
these farmers were involved in the Hybrid Chicken project. The farmers
involved in that project received more education concerning chicken management
and they were more invested in chicken production.

Get a pig, pay two piglets

Pork consumption in Tanzania has increased dramatically in the last few decades,
particularly in urban areas. Swine do not have the same cultural
importance as cattle and are therefore viewed as purely production animals.
Whereas cattle are often slaughtered at an advanced age because owning cattle
implies wealth and status, pigs are usually slaughtered when they reach
slaughter weight. The Iringa region of Tanzania is predominately Christian
and pork is culturally acceptable.

Village pigs are raised in a traditional style. Most village pigs reach
maximum size of about 150 to 200 lbs in about 12 months. This is due to a
combination of poor genetics and poor management. Pigs are usually raised
in pig sties that are raised several feet off the ground and have floors
consisting of uneven slats which lead to a high incidence of broken limbs.
The pig sties are usually 4x4 feet in size. Traditional management often
results in malnutrition, dehydration and over-heating.

The “Get a pig, Pay two piglets” project was designed to introduce improved
swine genetics and improved production management. Thirty-five villagers
were chosen by the village chairman, distributed equally over all seven
sub-villages. Criteria for participants included income range, having no
prior experience with swine production, and having no prior participation in
other livestock projects (such as HPI Dairy project, Tilapia fish pond project,
or the Broiler chicken project). Participants needed to be in the middle
income group because swine production includes a substantial investment in swine
housing and foods. Poorer households would be unable to spare the feed for
the swine. Households in the high income range were excluded because the
project was designed to act as poverty alleviation. The group elected a
president and a secretary. All participants agreed, in writing, to the
project requirements which included building an appropriate housing, purchasing
mineral and vitamin supplements, supplying appropriate neonatal veterinary care,
and the responsibility to give two female piglets from the first litter to a new
participant chosen by the group according to the participation criteria.
The boars were owned communally by the sub-village groups.

Pig stalls were built according to project specifications which included a
concrete floor, space of 10 by 15 feet, concrete food and water troughs, and
either metal or thatch roofing. The floors were built with a slight
decline to assist cleaning.

Thirty-five sows and seven boars were purchased at a convent specializing in
swine and were distributed to the participants. All sows produced litters
of eight to fourteen piglets. All piglets received appropriate veterinary
care including iron dextran injections and clipping of needle teeth. After
six months, slaughter weight pigs were sold at a huge profit.

All project participants were very enthusiastic about the profit margin and 60%
of participants significantly extended their production to five or six sows.
However, there were several long-term problems. The first was a growing
discontent among the people not chosen to participate in any project.
Accusations of nepotism were leveled at the village governments, and closer
inspection revealed that the same families were involved in the aforementioned
projects and that these families were often related to the village government
and not (as specified by the project) of the middle income group. A second
problem emerged as project participants refused to give piglets to people chosen
by the village government to expand the current project. The project
manager was unable to enforce project rules. The appeal was submitted to
members of the village government, but no action resulted. A final problem
emerged as the local (Imalinyi) market became saturated with pork (having
increased slaughter from one animal a week to two to three per week) and
transportation to larger markets proved to be prohibitively expensive on an
individual basis.

The major problems of this project were not technical and are illustrative of
problems plaguing development projects world-wide. The problems of
nepotism and corruption are famous and are blamed for many of the problems of
developing countries. In one study on Tanzanian corruption, polls revealed
the perceived level of corruption by the public of various public offices:
health workers were ranked among the most corrupt with 58% perceived corruption.
Local government was assessed as 44% corrupt (Research on Poverty Alleviation
2006). Teachers were viewed as least corrupt, but as will be seen in
the Tilapia pond project, there are still issues of inappropriate use of power.
Corruption was widespread in Tanzanian society and had a devastating impact on
the population below the poverty level who did not have the cash to bribe
hospitals to get any health care, or to bribe teachers to let the students pass.
This also affected veterinary services. Although rural Livestock and
Agriculture Officials were paid by the government and received a fuel allotment,
they routinely charged farm call fees and marked-up veterinary drugs. This
resulted in most veterinary care out of the reach of the small holder farmer.
Similarly, any NGO or other volunteer organization, such as the US Peace Corps,
was often forced to incur unexpected costs.

There are many causes of corruption including inadequate salaries of government
officials, social acceptance of the practice, and lack of deterrents.
Unfortunately this is a slow and painful process and corruption must be taken
into account when designing any project in Tanzania.

Ultimately, although the Get a pig, Pay two piglets program was designed to be
self-perpetuating and growing, it foundered due to corruption and lack of
oversight. This demonstrates one of the difficulties in sustainability.
Although the overall program disintegrated when the Peace Corps volunteer left,
many of the original participants have continued swine production. The
living conditions of project swine deteriorated as farmers simply subdivided the
current areas or build new, small, wooden pig huts that were once again raised
off the ground.

Tilapia ponds

A small group of farmers requested a fish pond project modeled after the HPI
Tilapia project. Tilapia is an ideal cash crop for small holder farmers in
areas with sufficient water because the initial investment involves significant
labor (digging the pond) but only enough financial investment to purchase
fingerlings. Thereafter, if managed correctly the tilapia are
self-renewing and can be used to seed further ponds. Fish is an excellent
source of protein when eaten fresh or dried. Protein is particularly
important for Tanzanian children who often suffer from protein malnutrition.
Furthermore, while fish is a popular food item, it is usually caught either off
the coast of Tanzania or in one of the major lakes. The FAO indicates that
there are only about 14,000 fish ponds in Tanzania and that fish farming
accounts for an insignificant percent of agriculture (FAO 2008b).

The tilapia project, funded in part by HPI, began by the digging of 25 ponds.
Each pond was 10m by 10m and 1m deep. These ponds were dug in natural
watershed areas and in clay based soil that can hold water. The ponds were
dug as a group effort and one pond could be finished in an afternoon. One
of the members of the group was a teacher. When her pond was to be dug,
she brought the entire fifth grade class to act as labor. This raised the
issue of child labor and exploitation of school children. It is common for
rural teachers in Tanzania to utilize their class as labor to raise crops on
their personal land.

Animal manure was used to encourage plankton growth which acts as tilapia
fodder. Farmers also supplemented this with table and kitchen scraps.
Fingerlings were purchased in a nearby village and transported by individual
farmers via bicycle. Each farmer who received 100 fingerlings pledged, in
writing, to help another interested farmer to dig an appropriate pond and to
give him or her 100 fingerlings.

Challenges included obtaining nets for harvesting. The Imalinyi farmers
were unable to purchase nets and resorted to draining ponds to capture adults
and fingerlings. Other challenges included occasional droughts which dried
up the local water supply. Nevertheless, enough ponds remained viable to
restock the defunct ponds once water returned.

In four years, the number of fish ponds grew from 25 to 76 under the care of the
fish farmers group despite only receiving funding for the initial batch of
fingerlings. The initial participants helped new members dig ponds and gave each
new member 100 tilapia fingerlings. This project has shown to be the most
sustainable and the farmers involved have indicated that in their households
child nutrition has improved dramatically. Four farmers have multiple,
terraced fish ponds and have reported a significant income from the ponds,
enough to replace thatch roofing with metal roofing on their homes. The
tilapia pond project had strong leadership and close group ties. All the
members were of the low to middle income class and most had no other livestock
(necessitating the purchase of manure to seed the ponds). The
sustainability of this project can be directly related to the strong leadership
and accountability of the group, which makes monthly visits to all the ponds to
critique and laud techniques and to the definite ownership of the project by the
group

Project retrospective

Clearly, although profit is the main objective of poverty alleviating projects,
it is not the critical factor that determines the sustainability of a project.
Although there is definite potential for profit production with tilapia farming,
the return on investment was greater and more immediate with the Get a pig, Pay
two piglet project. Nevertheless, the tilapia pond project was, overall,
much more successful.

There are several challenges facing poverty alleviating livestock projects

First, corruption and nepotism make projects more expensive and inefficient.
They also prevent projects from reaching and helping those who need it most, and
instead route more wealth towards the upper-middle class villagers.
Carefully designed projects that clearly specify participant requirements may
diminish this problem, but will not eliminate it since the donors are usually
not native to the area. Furthermore, bribes are needed to ensure the
smooth implementation of projects which is often vital to ensure the initial
success of the project and to prevent ill-will from those government officials
needed to help sustain these projects (e. g., participation by Livestock
Officials is needed for any intensified livestock production). Careful
education of small-holder farmers concerning their rights is critical to the
eventual diminishment of corruption. Educating farmers about alternative
routes of education and livestock veterinary services help farmers to feel more
independent. Any project that involves the distribution of valuable items,
such as dairy cows, must have methods of accountability built-in to assure the
sustainability and growth of the project. Project involvement by a broad
range of community members, designation of project officers voted on by the
community members, and transparent accountability throughout all stages of the
project are vital to prevent corruption. Methods to ensure community
involvement include wide spread advertising prior to choosing recipients and a
randomized, or otherwise fair, method of designating recipients.

Projects often founder shortly after the donor has departed because participants
do not feel a strong sense of ownership of the project and there is no real
sense of community amongst participants. One clear example is the hybrid
chicken project. The Lugallo sub-village group had clearly enjoyed the
profits and benefits of this project for several years. However, when a
major setback occurred (i.e. theft of all hybrid chickens), the group simply
asked the donor for a new grant. This indicates that in the minds of the
participants, the project still ‘belongs’ to the donor and that responsibility
for the continued success of the program also belongs to the donor (even though
the donor had departed years earlier). On the other hand, the
tilapia pond project demonstrated clear ownership by group leaders who
maintained the initiative and maintained constant feedback to the group members.
One determinant of ownership is how the project is initiated. Many NGOs
and volunteers simply arrive and announce that project “x” or “y” will be
happening and random people are chosen. A clear leadership and transparent
accountability system are necessary for project success. Clear
expectations for member contributions are also vital. Projects in which
members fund the necessary start-up costs may be more likely to feel responsible
for ongoing costs, such as replacement livestock and veterinary care. This
prevents discrepancies between what an outsider considers an essential or vital
project and what villagers are willing to invest in.

Another option that results in a clear sense of ownership by individuals is
microfinancing in which farmers are loaned the capital to purchase the
livestock and to cover all initial investments. NGOs, such as Total
Landcare, which is based in Malawi and has expanded to other countries including
Tanzania, use this to help farmers or farmer groups purchase pedal-pumps in
order to begin intensive agriculture of cash crops. Once the loan is
repaid, the money is used to buy more pumps which are then distributed to more
farmers. Other microfinance organizations, including national institutions
and NGOs, offer more general microfinance for most business ventures. Some
microfinance organizations are specifically targeting rural women. The
beneficiaries of these organizations are small-holders without the capital to
invest in improvements in agriculture or to start small businesses.
Furthermore, they do not have bank accounts and getting traditional loans is
impossible. Microfinance loans are usually only a few hundred dollars. In
Tanzania, only five to six percent of the population has access to bank accounts
(Basu et al 2008). Another microfinance option is the formation of a
farmer group in which every member pays dues and then has the option of
borrowing money from the group savings. This is a common
solution to financing challenges; however, it may lead to discord between
members and difficulty in enforcing repayment.

Technical challenges

There
are often unforeseen problems and in the livestock sector often include
infectious diseases. These may require further outlay of money that
sometimes proves significant. One example is the presence of mastitis –
both clinical and subclinical – in small-holder dairies. Many donor
groups, including HPI, provide dairy cows to villagers. However, after the
initial year of the project, villagers are ‘on their own’. These
small-holder dairymen and women often do not recognize mastitis and even if it
is recognized usually do not know how to treat it. Similarly, many
livestock management issues such as ectoparasite control and proper nutrition
offer areas with potential for significant improvement. Education
concerning basic management principles – such as how to identify, treat and
prevent subclinical and clinical mastitis - is necessary to ensure that dairy
farmers generate profit. Similarly, education is needed on the benefits of
ecto- and endoparasite control. Farmers also need to be taught the correct
methods of diluting and applying topical anthelmentics. Pamphlets, in the
local language and containing clear pictures, are an effective method of
disseminating knowledge. Also important is continual feedback from
experts. This may occur as monthly or bimonthly veterinary visits.
Alternatively, individual farmers, such as project leaders may be trained in
management skills and then provide feedback to project members. In the
tilapia fish pond project, this method was used and resulted in a cohesive group
of farmers dedicated to improving fish management.

Most Tanzanian small holder farmers are literate, but have received no education
beyond the seventh grade. This means that there is no cost-benefit
analysis of most business ventures. While vaccination for Newcastle
disease is truly cost-effective: for less than a penny per chicken, the
mortality rate can be significantly reduced, many farmers prefer not to spend
the Tanzanian shillings to vaccinate their flocks. One reason is that some
years Newcastle disease incidence is much lower than during other years and
farmers do not understand the cost benefit of maintaining a regular,
prophylactic vaccination schedule. Similarly, studies show that dairy
farms are not as profitable as other cash crops; most likely due to undiagnosed
subclinical or clinical mastitis, prolonged calving intervals, and poor
nutrition. One method of addressing this challenge is to teach farmers how
to keep accurate records recording production, input costs, and profits.
They can then use these records to assess issues such as calving intervals,
sudden decreases in milk production, or cost benefits associated with swine
nutrition. Cost-benefit analyses allow farmers to make better choices
concerning future investments, such as buying fodder or free-grazing their
cattle, and will influence decisions about marketing. Record keeping will
also help farmers monitor their livestock. Many farmers do not know
exactly how many chickens they own, although they are able to recognize
individual chickens. Farmers are often unsure as to the age and medical
history of livestock they own. Recording these data will help assist in
the veterinary care and management of livestock.

Marketing challenges

Earning a profit involves not only production of the crop, livestock, or craft
work but also finding and transporting the product to markets. Most
small-holders sell their livestock in the local village market. Similarly,
milk is sold locally and hand-delivered daily due to inability to store or
consolidate milk. Chickens and eggs are sold locally but are also sold to
regional markets because they are more easily transported via bicycle or on a
bus. Demand for livestock is growing faster in developing countries than
the demand for staple crops (FAO 2008b).
Obviously this represents an opportunity for economic growth. Despite
this increase in demand, it is easy to saturate local markets. One of the
challenges of the Get a pig, Pay two piglets project was saturation of the local
pork market. The Imalinyi village butcher could slaughter no more than two
pigs per week due to space and market restraints. The next step in the
project would be to develop a marketing co-operative which could share
transportation costs to larger regional markets. Even the most successful
small-holder farmer raised a maximum of eight pigs at a time. Renting a
truck for the transportation of eight pigs is not cost effective and the larger
pigs are impossible to transport via bicycle or motorcycle. However,
developing a stable relationship with butchers in Njombe (the nearby regional
market), would make it possible to export pigs to larger markets. One
challenge with this next step is the fact a steady supply of swine would be
needed to make this a viable business venture for all parties involved.

Marketing is a step that is often not addressed by poverty alleviation projects
and is vital to the long-term sustainability of these projects as well as the
economic growth of rural areas. Encouraging farmers’ groups to negotiate
prices as a group may give them more leverage, as would the promise of a steady
supply of livestock to the regional market.

Critical retrospective assessments of project impact are difficult on many
levels. There is a definite power imbalance in the relationship between
the donor and the recipients. This is critical in many ways but
particularly affects critical assessments. Recipients are well aware that
projects are only funded as long as they are ‘successful’ and therefore data and
results are often exaggerated. Many projects employ internal and external
evaluations to eliminate any bias from the donor side. Recipient bias is
more difficult to assess and requires actual inspection of randomly chosen
recipients (not just questionnaires which are notoriously inaccurate).
Beyond the direct measurements (e.g., how many chickens, how many liters of
milk), it is important to perform long term evaluations of factors that indicate
economic gain. Examples of these factors include decreased child
malnutrition rates and lower child mortality rates, larger numbers of children
reaching secondary education levels, better housing with metal roofs, and
increased buying power to purchase transportation.

Unforeseeable factors affecting development projects

When designing, implementing, or assessing a project it is necessary to take
other unforeseeable factors into account. For example, natural disasters
such as drought or flooding may have a detrimental effect on livestock.
Some regions may be prone to these natural disasters and may not be ideal for
many livestock programs. Civil unrest is a huge problem in Sub-Saharan
Africa and while livestock can be moved, it may not be possible to maintain
livestock in cases of civil war or in refugee camps. Another unforeseen
factor can be sudden increases in fuel prices which can negatively affect
regional and national economies. Transportation to regional markets is an
important factor in producing stable, economically stimulating projects.
An increase in transportation prices may cause the failure of a project and
alternative markets and marketing venues should be considered. Finally, national
and international politics affect grass-roots projects as well as larger
projects. Discrepancies in funding and access to assistance may change
suddenly, therefore, project plans, while detailed and complex, need to involve
the flexibility to respond to unforeseeable factors.

Final assessment of Imalinyi projects

No formal critical assessment was performed of the projects undertaken in
Imalinyi. However, some indicators of an improved economy included new
shops, more houses with tin roofs, and increased transportation availability.
Individuals involved in the projects reported an increase in disposable income
and better child nutrition. Individuals involved in several of the
livestock projects have been able to fund other businesses such as local shops
or the purchase of motorcycles. The tilapia fish ponds were a clear
success story. The number of ponds more than doubled since the official
project was ended. Fish farmers reported cash earnings from transportation
of fish to the regional market and from sale of fingerlings to other farmers.
Families of fish farmers reported an increase in protein intake, both due to the
availability of fish and increased purchasing power.

Challenges included expectations by participants of continued funding and
assistance, despite termination of the donor funding. Other problems
included corruption and difficulty accessing appropriate markets.
Improvements to future projects would include a larger education component
including production of more pamphlets, emphasis on management issues such as
parasitism and mastitis, and ongoing educational opportunities for farmers and
project leaders.

The projects were a positive experience for most of the participants, as well as
for the Peace Corps volunteer who designed and implemented the projects.
Despite the setbacks and the challenges, individual participants benefited from
both the knowledge and the financial assistance. Although it was not
possible to assess the impact on the overall Imalinyi economy, the lessons that
were learned from these projects can be used to design future projects.

Critical assessments, of both short term and long term goals, should be an
integral part of any development project small or large. Recording results
of specific parameters including actual livestock numbers and production numbers
will demonstrate project growth, expansion and sustainability. This data
can be used to modify the program over time or can be used to design other, more
effective projects. Farmers can learn to track their own projects and to
make adjustments to maximize outcomes.

Long-term goals are more difficult to evaluate and should include parameters
that measure the local economy. Parameters may include child mortality
rates, primary school attendance, secondary school attendance, disposable
income, and construction. Measuring these parameters will give an
indication of the development of the local economy. Long-term assessment
is vital to assess the sustainable impact of poverty alleviating projects.
This data can be used to demonstrate that development work has a sustainable
positive impact on poor economies.

It is possible to make a difference. The Imalinyi projects demonstrated
that. Lessons have been learned from the successes and challenges of those
projects. Veterinarians are trained to practice evidence based medicine.
This training can be applied to development projects as well and the lessons
learned from Imalinyi can be used to help alleviate poverty in future projects.
The role of the veterinarian is critical in poverty alleviation because
livestock is an important aspect of agricultural economies and has a direct
impact on public health.

Acknowledgements

The manuscript is adapted from first author’s senior DVM student requirement of
Scientific Writing and Presentation course. The projects mentioned were
conducted during 1st author’s Peace Core volunteer assignment during
2002-2004 and a follow-up visit to Tanzania in 2007.

References

Basu A, Blavy R and Yulek M 2008
Microfinance in Africa: Experience and Lessons from Selected African Countries.
IMF Working Paper. WP/04/174. Available at
http://www.insme.info/documenti/wp04174.pdf Accessed on
December 20, 2008

Catterson J and Lindahl C 1999
The Sustainability Enigma. Expert Group on Development Issues (1999:1)